Report Overview
The Working Poor Families Project, a national initiative supported by the Annie E. Casey, Ford, Joyce, and C.S. Mott Foundations, was launched in 2002 to examine the conditions of America’s working families. The project’s initial report, “Working Hard, Falling Short: America’s Working Families and the Pursuit of Economic Security,” found that more than one out of four American working families now earn wages so low that they have difficulty meeting their basic needs.3
This follow-up report finds that the situation hasn’t improved and has in fact become worse. As shown in the table below, since the Working Poor Families Project’s last report in 2004, the conditions for working families in America have worsened; the number of low-income working families with children has increased by more than 350,000. This increase is alarming as it occurred at a time of solid national economic growth.
The fact is that one out of four working families with children—a total of 42 million people—are low-income. These families pay a higher percentage of their income for housing than those earning more, are far less likely to have health insurance, and often lack the education and skills required to succeed in today’s skills-driven economy.
At the same time, low-income working families, like other working families, work hard. Contrary to popular myth, adults in low-income working families worked 2,552 hours per year, as measured in 2006, the equivalent of almost one and a quarter full-time workers per family. Despite working hard, many American families are struggling to get by, advance to the middle class and provide a secure future for their children.
In addition, income inequality increased among working families by almost 10 percent in recent years as indicated by the widening gap between the share of income received by the highest earning families and the share received by the least affluent ones.5 This growing disparity between poor and wealthy families affects more and more children, with more than 21 million children living in a low-income working family. And more low-income working families find it difficult to secure affordable housing or access to health care.
To stem the tide and reduce the number of low-income working families, leaders at the state and federal level must not neglect the needs of low-income workers. Policies that support education and job training, that create quality jobs, and promote family leave are all effective ways of fostering family economic security.
Changed Conditions from 2002 to 2006 |
|
2002 |
2006 |
| |
Number |
% |
Number |
% |
Working families below 200% of poverty |
|
27.4 |
|
28.2 |
Children in working families below 200% of poverty |
|
32.3 |
|
32.8 |
Working families spend more than a third of income on housing |
|
51.9 |
|
59.5 |
In working families at least one parent without health insurance |
|
36.7 |
|
38.7 |
Adults 25-54 high school degree/GED or less |
|
41.7 |
|
42.2 |
Jobs paying below poverty threshold |
|
19.4 |
|
22.2 |
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